Looking for allies in the Apprentice Legislature also meant looking for them in her pathfinding class. It made sense to start with Harp Allor, since Chandrila was already so strongly allied with Alderaan; Mon Mothma appeared to be even more central to the work against Palpatine than Leia’s parents were, and the other Chandrilan senator, Winmey Lenz, had attended several of the banquets-that-weren’t-really-banquets. Together, Leia figured, she and Harp could assess everyone else.
So she managed to get on to Harp’s team for the next pathfinding trek, through the marshlands of Chandrila itself, hoping they’d have a chance to talk.
They didn’t.
“This is disgusting.” Chassellon waded through the hip-deep mud, wiping his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand. “I thought Felucia was bad. And I thought Chandrila was supposed to be a civilized planet.”
“It is! We are! But the marshes are—well, they’re like this,” Harp finished, deflated.
One of the few wildernesses remaining on Chandrila, the marshlands were swampy and hot, wreathed in opaque mists exuding from the twisty, blue-leafed trees that formed at least ninety percent of the landmarks. Chief Pangie had told them that finding their way through the marshes would test their ability to observe and remember small details. Leia decided she should’ve known from the chief’s grin that the trip would also involve extra misery.
“We’re running behind, I just know it,” Harp whined. “We’ll be the last ones to the rendezvous point.”
Leia managed to smile for her. “Doesn’t matter as long as we get there.”
“Aren’t marshes supposed to be flat?” Chassellon griped as they trudged on, their way illuminated by sunlight filtered greenish by the mists. “Because we’ve been going upward at a small incline for the past three hours, and I’m bloody well sick of it.”
“We’ll get to the mud flats in a few klicks,” Leia promised. At least, they would if she was correctly remembering the oddly splinted-together roots of one particular tree.
Chassellon looked toward the skies for mercy that wouldn’t arrive. “Mud flats? Mud flats represent our big opportunity for everything to get better?”
“You said you wanted to stop climbing!” Harp retorted. “Well, this is your chance!”
Would I fail my Challenge of the Body if I abandoned two of my pathfinding partners in the wilderness? Leia gritted her teeth and pushed onward.
Sure enough, once they reached the mud flats, she was glad to see them. The flats rose up from the swamps in a series of plateaus, none of them appealing but at least more solid than liquid, unlike the gunk they’d been soldiering through. If they could just work their way up the flats, they’d have a clear view to the shorelands beyond, which would lead them to the rendezvous point and home. Leia glanced down at her skintight trek suit and sarong—both thickly coated with mud—and wondered what Kier must look like. She couldn’t wait to tease him about it, or to be teased in return—
“Finally,” Chassellon said. “All right, Harp, boost me up and I’ll pull the two of you after me.”
Harp put her hands on her hips. “Why should I be the one to boost you up? Why shouldn’t you boost me? You’re taller than me; you’d be better at it.”
He doubled down. “Well, I’m also stronger than you, so I’d be better at pulling you up, too.”
“You don’t know that you’re stronger.”
“Oh, please, Harp! You hardly come up to my elbows.”
“That doesn’t make me weak!”
Force give me the strength not to actually murder them, Leia thought. But their endless bickering, combined with her exhaustion and the general grossness of the day, had worked on her temper until it was near the breaking point. Once again her temples throbbed, and the only thing she could think of to be glad about was the fact that she was a few paces behind them and still—for the time being—out of the argument.
“You’re just angry that you can’t buy your way to the top of the class, like you do with everything else!” Harp shouted. “Some of us actually care about doing the right thing!”
Chassellon yelled back, “Some of us just want to get out of the mud already!”
The anger within Leia boiled hotter, until it felt like the only strength left in her body. Surely, at any moment, she would snap—
That was when she heard the distant rush, and felt the faint rumble beneath her feet.
Leia lifted her head, looking up the flats. Through the greenish mists, did she see…movement?
The sound loudened until it caught Chassellon’s attention. “What’s that?”
“Oh, kriff,” breathed Harp, her eyes widening. “Mudslide.”
It was as if the name made the image snap into focus. Horrified, Leia realized half the hillside was now sluicing down toward them. Those on the bank could run for it, but anybody still in the mud when the slide hit would be swept away.
“Chassellon, you go first!” Leia cried. He was right about being stronger. She cupped her hands together, and he instantly stepped into them, hurling himself onto the bank. Over the roar of the mudslide—louder every second—she said, “Come on, Harp! Now!”
Harp took the step after that, reaching for Chassellon’s outstretched hands as he pulled her onto the bank. Then he lunged forward, desperately reaching for Leia—
The wave hit her as hard as anything solid, as hard as a tree or a wall. The breath left her lungs; the light left her eyes. Her body tumbled over and over, surrounded and suffocated by heavy mud rushing along at incredible speed. She felt as if death itself had swallowed her whole.
Pathfinder training kicked in. Squeezing her eyes shut, Leia forced her hand down to her belt, where she hit the field generator. She heard a horrible slurping, liquid sound all around her—then startled as the mud popped out to the edge of the field, leaving her bobbing in an energy bubble. By the dim light at her belt, Leia could make out the swirls and ooze of the mud rushing by.
Although panic tugged at the edges of her consciousness, she managed to keep her body still; the bubble was strong but not impermeable, and thrashing around could compromise the field’s integrity. She had to trust it. Air is lighter than mud. Lightness rises and heaviness falls. Wait it out.
But there’s only so much air in this bubble—
Light slowly began to filter in, then burst upon her in a rush as the bubble surfaced. Bobbing within it, Leia rolled sideways toward the nearest dry land, or what passed for it on Chandrila’s marshes. Once she saw wet, flattened grass beneath her, she turned off the field generator and flopped onto the ground like a caught fish. Her breaths came too quickly in her chest, and mud covered nearly every millimeter of her body. It didn’t matter. All she wanted was to lie here, not moving, preferably forever.
From a distance she heard her name being called. After another few moments, she regained enough energy to care, and to recognize the voices.