chapter thirty-nine

       IT'S SAFE TO ASSUME that Amora was lost. She had been sneaking around the forest with no sense of navigation or time, just hoping to stumble across anything or anybody she knew. The problem was that Endor all looked the same! A pretty setting to be lost in, that was true, yet it wasn't too helpful when it came to locating her friends. And after travelling so far on the speeder bikes, Amora could be steps away from the energy source for all she knew. But it didn't seem to be the case since there wasn't anyone around, that is, until she heard multiple indistinguishable voices just a little further ahead.

       Even though she had been looking for any signs of life, she would prefer it to be someone who didn't want to kill her. So she quietly snuck closer to the sound and placed herself behind a tree. The hiding spot didn't give her much leverage, but it was enough to eavesdrop inconspicuously.

       Amora peeked her head out from behind the tree the tiniest bit, blaster in hand and ready. She didn't want to use it because of the loud sound, but it was usable if necessary. However, she didn't see any white-helmeted enemies to shoot. What she did see was a fluffy bunch of sandy blond hair that belonged to someone she cherished. It wasn't the Empire at all. It was her favorite people.

       "Luke!" she breathed out in relief, hopping away from the tree and entering the clearing.

       The sudden movement on her part clearly startled them as they jerked their blasters into place to shoot, but Luke's stance relaxed with great solace when he saw who it was. His previously cold eyes filled with warmth as he slowly stepped forward to meet her halfway.

       "Amora," he whispered with his arms outstretched to sweep her into him.

       She leapt into his embrace and tightened her grip around his strong frame, her feet lifting off the ground a bit as he lightly twirled her around. A giddy smile graced her lips and she touched back down with his hands resting on her head and back comfortingly.

       "I thought you didn't make it," he murmured quietly into her hair, her presence just barely enough to ease his distress.

       He lifted his head up to tenderly kiss the top of her hair, which only made her smile grow wider as she further nestled into his chest. Amora had forgotten about the others present, but an annoyed roar by Chewie brought her back to reality. She pulled away from Luke, embarrassed, and smiled at the Wookiee.

       "Hi, Chewie, it's good to see you're still alive," she bluntly greeted him before adding. "Oh, and don't worry, I don't blame you for Han's awful plan."

       The man in question scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Like you had any bright ideas."

       Not wrong.

       Amora let that slide with a simple "fair enough," but that's when she realized that something was wrong. The group wasn't complete, nor was it the same group who fled after the troopers.

       "Where's Leia?" she inquired with a slight feeling of dread.

       That dread didn't decrease when Luke and Han stiffened to the tune of Chewie's sad purr. Even Artoo whistled lowly from beside Threepio. That said everything she needed to know.

       "Not sure," Han answered. "But we found this."

       He tossed Amora a helmet that she hadn't noticed he was holding. Though she analyzed it when it touched her hands, she didn't need to. It was Leia's, and if it was lying out in the open for anyone to find, then something must be wrong.

       She cleared her throat and brought her gaze up. "Well, there's no dead bodies around, right? That's gotta be worth something."

       The others hummed softly at her words, knowing that in reality, that meant nothing. Amora glanced over at Luke to see anxiety written all over his face, the troubling concerns with no attempt to be hidden. He always worried for the ones he loved and this was no exception.

       She nodded and took a deep breath. "We'll keep looking."

       Chewie rumbled in agreement and headed off with Han to keep searching the area. Amora threw the helmet into a bush, hiding the rebel evidence, and reached out to grab Luke's arm gently. She stood up on her tiptoes softly placing her lips to his cheek in a sweet kiss.

       "We'll find her, okay?" she whispered.

       As if snapping out of whatever fearful trance he had, the worry left his face and Luke clutched her hand that was holding his arm. He nodded and smiled tightly.

       Once more, their little bubble was popped when Chewie loudly roared and ran deeper through the bushes without another word. Amora and Luke sighed, following him closely behind Han, Threepio, and Artoo.

       "What, Chewie?" Han shouted to his friend. "What, Chewie?"

       They were led into another tiny clearing and Amora placed her hand on her blaster just in case he was sensing any threats. He was speaking so frantically that couldn't exactly pick up what he was saying. But Chewie didn't appear to find any threats. He was instead focused on a random slab of meat displayed on a branch.

       Han frowned. "Hey, I don't get it."

       Amora was confused, too. Why was there fresh meat just lying around on a tree branch? That wasn't naturally occurring. Rotten meat, maybe, but this wasn't that.

       "Eh, it's just a dead animal, Chewie," Han dismissed.

       But Luke wasn't so sure. As a sudden epiphany crossed his thoughts, his eyes widened, rushing across to stop Chewie's paw from grabbing the snack. "Chewie, wait, wait, don't!"

       But it was too late. He hungrily pulled the carcass off of the branch, causing a giant net below their feet to soar upwards and capture them in the air. Amora squeaked in surprise as she was swept off her feet into the confines of a tight, animalistic trap. She found herself squished between... well... she didn't know, but it wasn't very comfortable.

       Of course...

       "Nice work!" Han sarcastically yelled. "Great, Chewie. Great. Always thinkin' with your stomach!"

       Luke grunted from somewhere below her and yelled. "Will you take it easy? Let's just figure out a way to get out of this thing!"

       Personally, Amora didn't have any great ideas, so she dearly hoped someone else did.

       "Han, can you reach my lightsaber?"

       Now that's a great idea.

       "Yeah, sure!"

       He reached towards Luke to find the weapon, which caused the net to spin aimlessly in circles. All Amora could do was awkwardly shift around and wait. But a whirring noise from above her caught her attention. It was Artoo, without a doubt, and she didn't know if that was a good thing.

       "Artoo?" she cautiously called out. "What are you doing up there?"

       There was no answer, but the noise continued. And Amora didn't like the sound of it.

       "Artoo, I'm not sure that's such a good idea," Threepio confirmed her fears. "It's a very long dr- ahh!"

       There was a giant snap and Amora's stomach clenched when the feeling of weightlessness suddenly overcame her. They dropped back to the ground at a rapid speed and hit the hard dirt with a few groans and some definite bruises.

       "Uh, Amora?" a muffled voice came from below her.

       It was Luke, who she had landed on top of in the process of plummeting. Also, who was definitely in a lot more pain than her.

       "Sorry," she mumbled, rolling off of him and huffing.

       She laid on her back, squeezing her eyes shut for a brief moment.

       "Thanks, Artoo," Amora groaned, though the appreciation was genuine.

       She pushed herself up and took notice of her surroundings, and they all quickly realized that something wasn't right. And not the usual "not right." In this case, there were strange, fuzzy creatures emerging from the tall grass and closing in on them from all sides. Varying in shades from brown to grey, they all wore some type of tribal clothing and held makeshift weapons pointed at them. Amora immediately recognized the creatures as Ewoks, though she didn't know much about them. Perhaps her education wasn't that good after all.

       Her mind was already racing with ways to get out of this mess, although she didn't think they would take too kindly to her fastest plan. It was probably a little too violent. But they were busy boggling, most likely planning on ways to cook the "food they trapped," and while the Ewoks outnumbered them, the odds weren't looking bad. Those spears could probably snap like a twig, anyways. But that didn't stop them from poking and prodding at the rebels, one creature in particular getting extra close to Luke.

       "Hey!" she yelled at the Ewok that waved his spear in his face. "Cut it out, furball!"

       The poor thing looked more confused than defensive at her outburst, which was probably in Amora's best interests.

       Luke tried to calm her down. "Amora, it's alright-"

       "No, it's not!" she argued with a glare at the Ewok. "You've done nothing wrong."

       Sure, angering the native species of a moon was never smart, but Amora cared more about Luke than her rational thoughts at the moment. And maybe she was just upset that it was now taking them longer to find Leia and return to the squad.

       The next victim of the Ewok's pointy sticks was unfortunately Han, who was known for having similar reactions to Amora. 

       "Hey!" Han snapped at the creature, slapping the stick away. "Point that thing someplace else!"

       "You tell 'em, Han!"

       "No, no, no," Luke hurriedly tried to calm Amora down, placing a hand on her thigh. "Let's not."

       She waved her hands around in an attempt to reason. "But if we-"

       "We're not."

       "We can-"

       "No."

       "Just let me-"

       "Amora."

       She crossed her arms and muttered. "It's just a bunch of baby Wookiees."

       Luke was much more peaceful, however, and passed his blaster off to an Ewok who grabbed it with greedy paws. It was as though they wanted the group to surrender their weapons in order to not be stabbed by their spears (which would've made Amora laugh if she didn't have said spear pointed at her face).

       "Chewie, give 'em your crossbow," Luke instructed confidently.

       Chewie clearly didn't want to. He resisted as the Ewoks tried to yank the weapon out of his grip. He finally allowed them to take it, but wasn't happy about losing his most important asset.

       Luke faced Amora with blue eyes pleading to give up her own blaster. "It's okay."

       She really didn't feel comfortable giving away her protection just like that, but Luke wouldn't have asked her to unless he was sure of the consequences. She would do it for him. Amora begrudgingly passed off her blaster to a bratty little Ewok that probably would've shot her if he knew how to use it.

       It's okay, she didn't like him, either.

       "Oh, my head!" Threepio suddenly shouted, sitting up in hazy bewilderment. Having been knocked out for the past few minutes, the droid finally adjusted to his surroundings and scanned the sight around them. "Oh my goodness!"

       And nothing could've prepared Amora for the absolute confusion that ensued. The same Ewoks who were about to stab them with sticks dropped their weapons in a heartbeat. A murmuring chant in their language stirred up and spread like a ripple until each creature was speaking the same tribal tune, all while bowing religiously to Threepio in a hurry. It was chaos.

       The droid said a few words in their native language to the Ewok who appeared to be their leader, which didn't seem to do much, but served as a helpful reminder that Threepio had the skills to get them out of this mess.

       "Do you understand anything they're saying?" Luke questioned.

       "Oh, yes, Master Luke!" Threepio replied brightly. "Remember that I am fluent in over six million forms of communica-"

       "What are you telling them?" Han interrupted impatiently.

       The chanting continued with no signs of stopping.

       "Hello, I think..." he answered unsurely. "I could be mistaken. They're using a very primitive dialect. But I do believe they think I am some sort of god!"

       Amora stared at the little creatures fixedly in irritation. "You can't be serious."

       "Well," Han began with equal annoyance, smiling sarcastically. "Why don't you use your divine influence and get us out of this?"

       "I beg your pardon, General Solo, but that just wouldn't be proper."

       This has to be a joke.

       "Proper?!"

       Even though Amora's short patience was nearing the limit, Luke was struggling to hold in his laughter. He seemed to find this all very amusing. She stared at him blankly which only made him laugh even more, his gloved hand hardly covering up his teasing grin.

       "It's against my programming to impersonate a deity," Threepio continued.

       At this point, Han was fed up.

       He clawed his way through the grass with anger in his eyes. "Why, you-"

       But the Ewoks wouldn't let him even within reach of Threepio. Their miniature spears shot out to form a shield in front of the droid and shoved Han backwards into the dirt. He paused after seeing this was a battle he couldn't win on his own.

       "My mistake," he struggled to apologize with his hands surrendering in the air. "He's an old friend of mine."

       The Ewok, though probably unconvinced, stood down with the approval of Threepio, and a tense silence took over as everyone contemplated their next move.

       Amora raised her eyebrows at the droid. "Are they gonna let us go or what?"

~ ☼ ~

       The Ewoks did not let them go.

       They did the worst possible thing, actually, which was tying them up onto sticks and hiking through the woods to wherever they planned to sacrifice them. It wasn't Amora's idea of a good time, but the Ewoks sure enjoyed bothering her as she dangled defenselessly. She wished she could enjoy the beauty of the moon while not on the brink of death.

       It was an amazing relief (though not as amazing as it initially seemed) when their journey came to an end after sundown. The destination was an incredibly tall treehouse filled with a lot more Ewoks than she initially imagined. It had gorgeous architecture that she also wished she could enjoy but, alas, could not. Yes, it did take a very long, uncomfortable trip up the endless stairs to make it there, but it was over. At least, the walk was over. They now had a whole new set of problems.

       On the dangerously high wooden platform, the rebels (minus Han) were propped up against a hut until it was their time to be cooked, with Amora on the far side of Chewie. Han was actually hung over a fire pit to be the first course of the night. Meanwhile, Threepio had been carried to the treehouse on a throne that he still sat in now. If Amora didn't know any better, she'd think that Threepio could actually free them whenever he wished yet decided to enjoy the royal treatment for a little longer.

       While Amora was searching for some type of way to escape, Threepio and the Ewok chief were exchanging a few words up at the throne. Even though it was audible from their distance, it was useless since they didn't speak the language.

       "What did he say?!" Han hissed in frustration.

       "I'm rather embarrassed, General Solo, but it appears you are to be the main course at a banquet in my honor!"

       Amora mentally groaned and inhaled deeply. They had far more pressing matters back with the rebel squad. This tribe of Ewoks might not even survive if the Empire keeps their Endor base operational! This kidnapping was annoying, more than anything. And worst of all, she knew Threepio was enjoying every second of it.

       "We wouldn't be stuck in this mess if we just took 'em out when we had the chance..." she muttered, mostly frustrated with herself for managing to get caught in the first place.

       The sound of steady drums rang throughout the treehouse and the chatter of Ewoks grew in astonishment. A beautiful figure emerged from the treehouse entrance, a human who was the last person Amora was expecting to see. It was Leia! Somehow dressed like a woodland princess, but still Leia. Amora never questioned how she always found trendy fashion in a survivalist world.

       What was she doing here?!

       It didn't take Leia long to realize what was happening. She spotted them almost instantly and rushed forward in a panic. However, the Ewoks held out their spears and blocked her from walking any further than a few steps.

       "Your royal highness!" Threepio greeted regally as if he didn't grasp their situation.

       Leia ignored his words and urged the Ewoks for understanding. "But these are my friends! Threepio, tell them they must be set free!"

       Chewie weakly roared, and finally, Threepio took action. He said a few short statements that caused some discourse among the creatures. They discussed, though naturally, the they didn't listen. They continued to prepare the fire underneath Han.

       "Somehow I got the feeling that didn't help us very much!" Han spat.

       During all this, Amora was going through ideas in her head, trying to escape on her own. Yes, all of her ideas were simply awful because there was absolutely no way to try anything when she couldn't move, but they were better than whatever Threepio said to these monsters.

       "Threepio," she heard Luke begin from the other side of Chewie. "Tell them if they don't do as you wish, you'll become angry and use your magic."

       Amora's own planning was put on hold as she realized what he meant by that. And by then, she felt a grin pulling at her lips. Not necessarily because it was a great plan for them to escape, but because she was in awe of Luke and his quick thinking. She grew more and more amazed by him every day and adored his confidence and leadership.

       "But Master Luke, what magic? I couldn't possibly-"

       "Just tell them," he demanded sternly.

       Threepio did as he was told and dramatically translated the dialogue. Whatever he said shocked the Ewoks into silence right before frantic whispers. But ultimately, they ignored what he said and carried on like they did earlier.

       "You see, Master Luke, they didn't believe me, just as I said they wouldn't!" he wailed.

       There was a brief pause, not including the conversation and yelps from the Ewoks, and Amora excitedly anticipated what was to come. It seemed like Threepio was doing the same, just without the excitement.

       It all happened so quickly, but the droid began rising into the air thanks to the Force. But the Ewoks didn't know that. They started screaming and running and hiding from the "magic" with the most frightened faces, desperate to distance themselves from their recently proclaimed deity.

       "Oh dear!" he screamed out to no avail. "Put me down! Help! Somebody! Somebody help! Master Luke! Artoo! Artoo, quickly!"

       To be honest, Amora thought this bit of teasing was deserved after he fit so comfortably into the royalty role. She found it funny, more than anything.

       That seemed to be the big push the Ewoks needed to release the rebels before they were punished by Threepio's magic. They scattered, running to each of them to fearfully untie their former-food. Except they untied Amora's arms before her legs, letting her upper body crash to the floor awkwardly.

       "Hey!" she yelled, but they didn't seem to care about her opinion.

       She didn't blame them, though. Amora wasn't too fond of them, either, and probably would've blasted them earlier if she hadn't been stopped.

       They took their sweet time untying her legs from the post and when she was completely free, they scurried away without another word. But Amora didn't care about the annoying little creatures. She pushed herself off the ground hastily and looked around for her friends.

       She saw Artoo zapping some furballs with electricity (which she wasn't opposed to in the slightest). Amora also saw Han and Leia reunite in the center of the platform with a passionate kiss, causing the Ewoks to gawk at them in wonder. They had never seen anything like it before. It was heartwarming to see them together again.

       Amora let them have their moment and instead shuffled through the crowd to reach Luke, who was still setting Threepio back on the floor. He appeared weary for a moment after exerting so much energy, but gladly joined her and lazily draped an arm around her waist. He shot her a goofy grin that reminded her so much of the boy she met on Tatooine, which she returned happily.

       "You're amazing," she confessed as they walked over to meet Han and Leia.

       "You sound surprised," he joked, tugging her closer into his side.

       Amora couldn't even respond, too awestruck. They then arrived at the other couple where everyone exchanged hugs and joy that they were finally together again. They turned to Threepio with cheerful smiles.

       "Thanks, Threepio," Luke modestly said, letting his arm fall around Amora's waist again.

       "I... I never knew I had it in me," he distractedly said, still recovering.

       Amora chuckled and glanced around at the treehouse. "Okay, let's get outta here!"

~ ☼ ~

author's note -

haha we'll just pretend like i didnt take a half a year hiatus so anyways yeah this book will be finished no matter what dont worry. but skdjsjs anyways i literally love ewoks omg but i also love how amora doesnt. uh yeah lets hope the next chapter doesnt take long lol thank u so so much for reading after all this time!! :)